Quarter Life Crisis Apparently, I'm old. I didn't think I was, but I keep experiencing small zen-like moments where I realize the image I have of myself differs greatly from the image other people see. If it isn't kids at golf camp guessing my age at thirty or asking me if I'm married, it's some random guy walking up to me while I'm standing in close proximity to a four-year old child, and asking, "Is he yours?" I'm not sure if it's that I actually look that old, or if all people between the ages of 18-30 look the same age to old people, in the same way that I can't tell Jackie Chan from Chow Yun Fat.
I mean, granted I'd rather blog about politics than see how fast my truck can go, and I did fall asleep at nine the other night watching a senate sub-committee meeting on C-Span, but still ... I'd rather build a fort out of couch cushions and read Harry Potter (my roommate bought the new one, yes!) or play videogames until I develop that mysterious eye twitch than do... whatever it is that old people do.
Speaking of Harry Potter, I'm a little disappointed with the sixth book so far. I'm not sure if Rowling is content with her six gabillion dollars or if she is under a ton of pressure to kick more books out, but Ministry of Magic politics are starting to resemble the post 9/11 political landscape a bit excessively I feel. Whether this is what she originally had in mind, or if she just feels compelled to make some heavy-handed symbolism in order to attract an older audience, I like it less...
One more note- I just read The Second Coming by Walker Percy. Although it came heavily recommended by redhurt, I didn't get that much out of it. Granted, there are numerous times where Percy is right on in some issues, but I think (and I could be exposing myself as a literary philistine here) I would have had a much better time reading the book had he thrown in a quotation mark... or ten.
I mean, granted I'd rather blog about politics than see how fast my truck can go, and I did fall asleep at nine the other night watching a senate sub-committee meeting on C-Span, but still ... I'd rather build a fort out of couch cushions and read Harry Potter (my roommate bought the new one, yes!) or play videogames until I develop that mysterious eye twitch than do... whatever it is that old people do.
Speaking of Harry Potter, I'm a little disappointed with the sixth book so far. I'm not sure if Rowling is content with her six gabillion dollars or if she is under a ton of pressure to kick more books out, but Ministry of Magic politics are starting to resemble the post 9/11 political landscape a bit excessively I feel. Whether this is what she originally had in mind, or if she just feels compelled to make some heavy-handed symbolism in order to attract an older audience, I like it less...
One more note- I just read The Second Coming by Walker Percy. Although it came heavily recommended by redhurt, I didn't get that much out of it. Granted, there are numerous times where Percy is right on in some issues, but I think (and I could be exposing myself as a literary philistine here) I would have had a much better time reading the book had he thrown in a quotation mark... or ten.
posted by Justin at 3:47 PM 
1 Comments:
A quotation mark? Hmm.
I liked the book a lot because it kicked Ayn Rand in the face for me. Rand's got a good sort-of philosophy. It holds up, it's compelling, it's livable (to a large extent) and it's..bold. Passionate. Focusing on building and creating for nothing more than the sake of doing it, casting Man as a creative and heroic being who strives within his environment and improves it by his doing so. Marvelous.
Rand just completely ignores death, and Percy confronts it so well that it did a lot for the way I was thinking at the time. The alternative ways we're all foolish and insane that he lays out in the cave - that we all live acting like we believe life doesn't matter regardless of what we say about it, and it shows our crazy schizophrenia. That athiests keep working hard despite the belief that it's all for nothing is crazy, and it's crazier still that religious people are just as much caught up in the malaise and apathy nihilism brings despite asserting the joy of an afterlife. Percy confronts that malaise - the empty boredom of TS Eliot's Wasteland - so well, and gives it such a devistating kick to the head. So that's why I loved it.
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